So, Doom and completing games

Yesterday I finished Doom. No, not Doom Eternal, just Doom(2016).
And I am happy that I did, the game is good and satisfying, but I just wanna talk about why it took me so goddamn long.

I think I began playing it sometime in 2016, but took until now to finish it. All that time I was recommending it to everybody I know, but I still couldn't find the motivation to finish the game. Since Doom Eternal started making the rounds in the news and reviews and whatnot, I've been thinking about why I took so long to finish this not too long game that I enjoyed playing. Because honestly that is surreal.

And I think I figured it out, but I will take the long way to explaining it.
Today (and historically, actually) games frequently feature lots of secrets and hidden things and achievements and whatnot. When you collect all those, you get a 100% completion rate or something along those lines.
I know myself. I gave up on all that back in 2011 when Skyrim came out. It just saps all enjoyment of a game if I have to search around for secret stuff. "Oh but you can google that" is a common criticism (or would be if I told this to somebody). Yes you can, but that also saps even more fun out of it, at that point I am following a guide on how to do something instead of actually playing the game.
So for most games I just don't care. I play the game and when I am feeling like I've had enough of it, I label it complete and move on. I've had my worth of the game and I can go play other games.

How does this apply to doom

But Doom isn't like most games.
See Doom did something those other games don't. Actually two things.

1. The secrets you find have semi-big gameplay inpact
2. You have a scanner for secrets that puts the secrets on your automap

So first point is obvious. If you miss a secret, you lack a gameplay feature, power-up, boost, something and for the rest of the game you'll be reminded of it.
Thankfully this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the really important gameplay things (guns) are also given to you in the direct route in case you miss them in the secrets. (though it is true, finding them in the secrets gives you somewhat of an edge earlier in the game)

But the second point.
Oh god the second point. That downright broke me.
"I'll invest my rare points into the scanner ASAP so I won't miss a secret and I'll see them all" was a thought Numerion had early on in the game.
In case you can't see it yet, this leads to more fun sapping.
I have found myself constantly opening the automap, looking around me if I missed something in the last corridor or two. This lead to slowing the game down to a crawl, along with lots of backtracking when I realized some secrets are not accessible from the part where I was and so on.
And I am not exaggerating, there was a level (Arguably large) that I took over a year to complete, because I turned it on during four different game sessions and always gave up because there was so much stuff to collect, find a way to, discover and so on. And then I even got stuck in the level because of too many corridors and pathways.

Finally yesterday I sat here in front of my computer and thought to myself "Do I need those secrets? Is there anything I am losing by not collecting them?"
It took me three and a half years to ask myself that question in this particular case. And the answer is "Yes there is something I am losing but I don't need them".
Yesterday I had fun. I ignored the automap for the most part. I just pushed ahead, shot demons and had pure gory fun with the game. I still found some secrets and I laughed at the end of the mission summaries that told me how many secrets I missed.

I finished the game and I feel good about it. And I am moving on.
And hopefully I won't fall into the same mistake when I am playing the sequel